Google has been quietly laying off staff and up to 10,000 jobs could be on the chopping block according to sources. Since August, hundreds of employees have been laid off and there are reports that about 500 of them were recruiters for Google.

By law, Google is required to report layoffs publicly and with the SEC however, Google has managed to get around the legal requirement. In fact, one of the ways Google was able to meet Wall Streets Q3 earnings expectations was by trimming operational expenses.

Google reports to the SEC that it has 20,123 employees but in reality it has 30,000. Why the discrepancy? Google classifies 10,000 of the employees as temporary operational expenses or workers. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, There is no question that the number (of workers) is too high.

I’m always saddened when someone loses their job. However, working in the software engineering biz — I could have told you a LONG time ago, Google has waaaay too many employees working on fluff products. With way too many perks, and way too much overhead per employee.

They also have expanded far too fast and into too many little niche markets. And too many of these niche markets / products have no revenue stream attached to them.

3
posted on 12/04/2008 6:50:14 AM PST
by rom
(Voted for Ron Paul in the primary. Voted against Obama in the general and FOR Palin.)

They are doing what has been hurting Microsoft for 15 years: Not focusing on core products. Microsoft has allowed managers to do just about anything with no adult supervision. This has lead to lousy products that are half baked and spending the company cannot continue to afford.

I’m in total agreement. They went the Microsoft route — only much faster!

And given that a search engine has no backwards compatibility concerns (one of the things that makes it easy for Windows and Office to establish a monopoly) the door is still wide open for a better Search Engine to emerge.

Especially one without so many ugly privacy concerns. I think a new search engine could emerge that plays into the privacy fears of Google. It could be a great marketing angle if someone could get a lot of capital to do it (and it was a competent implementation).

7
posted on 12/04/2008 6:57:47 AM PST
by rom
(Voted for Ron Paul in the primary. Voted against Obama in the general and FOR Palin.)

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